"I do prize the miniature, and would not part with it for any consideration; but I want something far more than a gold case to keep it in."
"Tell me what you want, and I will get it for you," whispered her cousin.
"No—I am going to sell this frame."
"And I am going to buy it from you," said the kind-hearted merchant, taking it from her hand and weighing it.
Russell and Mr. Campbell left the store, and soon after Mr. Brown paid Electra several dollars for the locket.
In half an hour she had purchased a small box of paints, a supply of drawing-paper and pencils, and returned home, happier and prouder than many an empress, whose jewels have equalled those of the Begums of Oude. She had cleared Russell's character, and her hands were pressed over her heart to still its rapturous throbbing. Many days elapsed before Mr. Turner's answer arrived. He stated that he had won the watch from Cecil Watson, at a horse-race, where both were betting; and proved the correctness of his assertion by reference to several persons who were present, and who resided in the town. Russell had suspected Cecil from the moment of its disappearance, and now provided with both letter and watch, and accompanied by Mr. Brown, he repaired to Mr. Watson's store. Russell had been insulted, his nature was stern, and now he exulted in the power of disgracing the son of the man who had wronged him. There was no flush on his face, but a cold, triumphant glitter in his eyes as he approached his former employer, and laid watch and letter before him.
"What business have you here?" growled the merchant, trembling before the expression of the boy's countenance.
"My business is to clear my character which you have slandered, and to fix the disgrace you intended for me on your own son. I bring you the proofs of his, not my villainy."
"Come into the back-room; I will see Brown another time," said Watson, growing paler each moment.
"No, sir; you were not so secret in your dealings with me. Here, where you insulted me, you shall hear the whole truth. Read that. I suppose the twenty-dollar gold piece followed the watch."